


the cottage on the beach

by danielfaradays



Category: Lost
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29691756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danielfaradays/pseuds/danielfaradays
Summary: It starts with a nosebleed.Charlotte frowns when she sees it. “Is that from when Sawyer hit you?”Dan can’t quite conceal the flash of worry as he wipes away the blood.
Relationships: Daniel Faraday/Charlotte Lewis
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	the cottage on the beach

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea about Dan being the most affected from time travel because he'd fried his brain, and also got pissed at the idea of Charlotte dying so early in the story, and then this sort of happened? Get ready to cry.
> 
> Also I will finish my other fics soon, I promise.

It starts with a nosebleed.

Charlotte frowns when she sees it. “Is that from when Sawyer hit you?”

It can’t be, she knows, because that happened at least an hour ago. Someone else would’ve spotted it long before she did. 

Dan can’t quite conceal the flash of worry as he wipes away the blood. “No,” he says, voice distant. “I haven’t… haven’t had a nosebleed since Oxford.” For a moment, his face falls, and then he seems to remember that Charlotte is there. “I’m fine, really.”

Charlotte knows something is wrong, but it’s already been a hellish 24 hours so she doesn’t press anything. “We should keep moving.”

“Yeah, um... my pack,” Dan says softly. “I left my pack back at the hatch crater. I better get it. Why don't you head back with everyone else? And I'll be right behind you.”

“Don’t dillydally,” Charlotte says with a smile, trying to ignore the gnawing sense of worry in her gut.

She ignores the worry, even when Dan comes back a couple hours later. If his memory seems spottier than normal, well, that’s to be expected, isn’t it? He’s been through an immense amount of stress. They all have. 

Soon, they’re running for their lives, Dan’s hand in hers, and she tells herself to forget about a silly nosebleed when there are bigger threats to their lives.

* * *

Dan says he loves her. Tells her he said it because he meant it. When he leaves, Charlotte starts to cry.

It’s not that he’s in love with her that makes her cry though, or the gentle earnestness in his eyes. It’s the way he said it, as though this might be his only chance to tell her. There’s no expectation or demand that she say it back to him — though she thinks she might want to — but it is rather a confession made for the sake of having her know it. 

“So, Dan’s being weird. Weirder, I should say,” Miles finally says.

“Miles, I don’t want to hear a joke right now.” Charlotte wipes at her eyes and glares at him.

Miles shakes his head. “No, no jokes. Like, he seems seriously off.”

Charlotte would say more, but there’s a familiar buzzing and the light grows bright. Charlotte leaps to her feet just as the world around them disappears. When the world returns, they’re standing in the field they were before, only the tents are gone. Locke is standing a few feet away.

“Charlotte!”

Charlotte turns to see Dan running over to her. A little ways behind him are Sawyer and Juliet. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says, smiling at him. He’s alive. He’s okay. 

“I’m fine too,” Miles mutters from behind them.

Dan unties the rope around her wrist. Charlotte smiles agin, ready to pull him into an embrace, when he suddenly stumbles.

“Daniel?” 

But Dan doesn’t answer. His eyes roll back as blood pours from his nose and he collapses. Charlotte immediately is at his side, rolling him over. His eyes are shut and his face is pale, blood dripping down and staining his blue dress shirt.

She can hear Miles shout in surprise and hear the sound of Juliet, Sawyer, and Locke rushing towards them, but all Charlotte can do is pull Dan into her arms and cradle him close, running a hand through his dark hair.

When he wakes up, he doesn’t remember her at first.

* * *

They’ve gone through hell on their way to the Orchid, and Dan is getting steadily worse with every passing flash of light.

At least he’s offered an explanation. “It’s because of my experiments,” he says, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. “At Oxford…. I tested them on myself. I thought I could send myself through time. But it didn’t, didn’t work.” He finally looks up at Charlotte. “I thought it wouldn’t affect me.”

Sawyer grimaces. “So what? You fried your brain, how do we stop it?”

“I don’t know,” Dan admits. “But it’ll happen to all of us. It just… got me first.”

Charlotte doesn’t know what to do. She’s trained for everything but watching Daniel Faraday die, and she hates this. She hates not being able to do anything to ease Dan’s pain or to make him more comfortable. If the situation were less dire, she’d ask them to slow down a little, but every step brings them closer to stopping themselves from skipping through time, and in turn stopping Dan from slipping away.

A bright flash of light occurs, and then Dan is on the ground. Charlotte drops down next to him, cradling his head in her lap. “Daniel? Dan, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s me…”

When Dan finally comes to again, he’s different.

“But I can make time, mom,” he says in a childish voice, looking out at nothing.

Charlotte fights back panic. “Daniel, can you hear me? It’s Charlotte.”

Dan’s face shifts into an easy grin. “Oh, I love Drive Shaft.” He pauses, smile turning shy. “I mean, my mother would absolutely not approve of you either.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Sawyer is pacing back and forth. Juliet is at his side, trying to get him to calm down.

“It doesn’t matter,” Locke says firmly. “We have to keep moving.”

“Right,” Charlotte says. “Someone help me get him on his feet.”

Locke shakes his head. “No, he’ll slow us down.”

Charlotte glares at him. “Excuse me, but if you think I’m going to leave him on his own, unprotected, you’ve got another thing coming!”

Juliet steps in. “He has a point. If we stop this, we can get Dan medical attention.”

“And what if he dies before that?” Charlotte’s voice is high and tense; she hates that she sounds almost hysterical. “You want me to leave him behind?”

Eventually, it’s settled. Charlotte remains with Dan. The others go on ahead.

Soon, it’s just the two of them and the sounds of the jungle. 

* * *

“I was born here, you know,” Charlotte tells Dan, carding her fingers through his hair. He’s looking up at her like she hung the stars, and it hurts. She’s talked about everything else, it seems, in an attempt to keep him conscious; now she’s decided to spill her secrets. “I spent my entire life trying to find this place. To find out what happened to my dad.”

“I was born here too,” Dan says in a small voice.

Charlotte’s brow furrows. “What?”

“I was born here,” Dan continues faintly. “My mother… she told me if I came back home, the island would heal me. And that she’d be proud of me.” He sighs. “I remember being here when I was a kid.”

He pauses. “And I remember a woman. She had red hair. I remember that… and she was really upset. I remember I wasn’t allowed to go into camp that day, because there was something that had happened….”

Charlotte’s hand stops moving. “Daniel?”

Dan shakes his head. “She was so upset and she told me… she knew my name and she told me, that if I ever came back to this place, I would die. And I forgot, I forgot everything but I remember now.”

He looks up at her, and all the love in his eyes is tinged by fear now. “I think it was you,” he breathes. 

Charlotte feels her heart stop. “It couldn’t have been men,” she says gently. “It couldn’t.”

Dan shakes his head slightly. “No, no, I remember… I remember….”

He drifts into unconsciousness after that, and Charlotte feels her last resolve break.

“You can’t die here,” she tells his still form. “You can’t, because I love you too. And I think I’m too scared to say it when you can hear me, so I’m going to need you to stick around until I can say it back. Don’t leave me here.”

Another flash of light brings Dan back into the world. His eyes are unfocused, but he finally sees Charlotte’s face and he smiles.

“Are you from Dharma?” He asks in a childish voice.

Charlotte shakes her head. “Dan, I don’t understand…”

But that’s almost enough, it seems. Suddenly, there’s a spark in Dan’s eyes. “Charlotte,” he breathes. “Charlotte.”

Charlotte cradles his face in her hands. “It’s me.”

Dan closes his eyes and for a heartbeat Charlotte thinks she’s lost him. And then his eyes open again, brighter than before. “A constant.”

“What?”

“A constant.” Dan smiles weakly. “Something to ground you, something that you really care about. Otherwise it’s all chaos. I think… I think you’re my constant.”

It’s strangely the most romantic thing in the world. Charlotte lets out a watery laugh as she helps Dan sit up. “Are you okay?”

Dan winces a little. “I think I, uh, I should be? I’ve never done this before.” He laughs a little at that. “Guess it was you I remembered after all.”

Charlotte doesn’t care about how Dan remembers her from when he was a child. Instead, she throws her arms around his neck, pulling him close. Dan sinks into her arms, relaxing as he wraps himself around her. 

“Don’t scare me like that again,” Charlotte scolds. “Don’t you dare.”

Dan just hugs her tighter.

* * *

“When are we going to talk about it?”

It’s three months into 1974, and Charlotte has had enough.

Dan blinks at her owlishly. “Talk about what?”

“What you told me out in the jungle before we came here,” Charlotte says. It’s a lazy Sunday morning, and usually Charlotte would prefer to spend it cuddling or getting up to something far more fun, but the shadow of Dan’s words have been hanging over them for weeks now.

Dan frowns, as if he’s trying to remember. “Is this about me remembering you? From before?”

Charlotte nods.

Dan sighs. “…I don’t know what I meant. I just know that someday, you’re gonna tell me to leave the island, or else.” He can’t quite meet her eyes. “I don’t know anything other than that.”

“What it means is that I could lose you,” Charlotte says cooly. “And I don’t want to go through that. We had a close enough call as it is.”

Dan shrugs. “Whatever happened, happened. If I die now, then I die. You can’t change it, Char.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Charlotte glares at him. “Maybe, I don’t know, maybe you remembered changed something. Or maybe I was just trying to scare you off. It doesn’t mean that you’re…”

“We don’t even know that that’s what you meant,” Dan says patiently. “Listen to me, I won’t leave you. I promise.”

He kisses her then, but Charlotte pushes back. “And what if it means something happens to you?”

Dan can’t quite meet her eyes. “We don’t know what it means. But I know that nearly dying, it’s, uh, finally given me a spine.” He looks at her, a fond smile on his face. “I just know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. For however long that is.”

Charlotte knows there’s no wining this fight. “That sounds like a proposal, Dr. Faraday.”

“I’m not proposing yet, Dr. Lewis,” Dan teases back. When he kisses her this time, she kisses him back.

* * *

The rest of Dan’s life, it turns out, is three more years.

Three perfect years.

And then the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 reappear, saying Dan’s mother sent them. They uproot their lives and force them to flee their home, and Dan says he has to talk to his mother. 

“I have to know why she sent them here,” he says to Charlotte after they’ve escaped the Barracks. Jack and Kate are a few feet away.

“I don’t like this,” Charlotte replies. “She’s not going to know why they’re here, she hasn’t sent them here yet!”

“I still have to try to figure this out.” Dan kisses her cheek. “I promise, this will be fine.”

But he’s lying.

Charlotte wonders later if he had a feeling that this would be his doom.

She doesn’t see the woman approach. Her eyes are on Dan, on the gun in his hand. She knows he’s never shot anyone before and she’s not sure if he’s ever going to be able to be a killer. 

When the shot goes off, she flinches.

Dan crumples to the ground, much like he did years before at the Others camp. Charlotte is at his side, just like before, one hand pressing down on his gunshot wound as the other cups his face.

“Who are you?” The blonde woman demands.

Dan gasps. “You… you sent me here. All along you knew, and you still sent me here. To die.”

Charlotte doesn’t understand, and neither does the woman, until Dan whispers, “I’m your son.”

The woman steps back in shock, and Dan’s eyes find Charlotte’s. He stares up at her, an apology in his dark eyes. “Charlotte?”

Charlotte knows a losing fight when she sees it. She stops putting pressure on his wound and instead grabs his hand. “I’m here,” she says softly. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. You can let go.”

Dan lets his eyes drift skyward. It’s a beautiful day, and there’s birdsong nearby. The sky is a crystal blue. He shudders for a moment, then goes still. His eyes, which Charlotte has always loved, go dull.

Charlotte lets out a scream, a primal howl of rage and grief, because Dan is dead and nothing matters after that. She’s never going to see him again. She’s lost him forever.

The world feels a little smaller and colder now that Dan’s gone and left her all alone.

* * *

There might be a way to undo it.

Jack is insistent that Dan had some kind of plan to change their timeline. “The bomb,” he says, though Charlotte barely understands. “He said if we destroy the island, then our plane never crashes and you two never come here.”

_Good_ , Charlotte thinks bitterly. _I don’t want to come here. I wish I’d never come here_.

After they’ve been released, Charlotte wanders by the outskirts of the camp as Jack and Kate negotiate with Eloise — who Charlotte hates more than she thought possible — about the bomb. 

“Are you from Dharma?”

Charlotte’s head snaps around to see a young boy, about four years old, watching her from where he’s sitting underneath a tree with a book in his hands. He’s not afraid, simply curious; he studies her with keen eyes.

Charlotte knows who he is instantly.

“I am,” she says, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

The boy smiles. “I’ve never met anyone from Dharma before.” He tilts his head to the side a little. “I’m Daniel. What’s your name?”

“I’m Charlotte.” Saying her name has never been quite so hard. 

“You seem sad,” Daniel points out.

Charlotte nods. “I am. I lost something very important to me.”

Daniel frowns. “Can I help you find it?”

Charlotte winces. “No.” An idea starts to form; she knows she’s following in the steps of those who came before her, but this could be different. They’re going to change the timeline, after all, so maybe if she says this, it’ll be okay. So she crouches down to be on Daniel’s eye level. “Daniel, can you promise me something?”

The boy nods solemnly.

“Soon you and your mum are going to leave the island.” Charlotte lets out a shaky exhale. “And when you do, you can’t come back, okay? No matter what anyone says, you can’t come back here.”

Daniel frowns. “But…”

“You can’t come back.” Charlotte wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“What are you saying?” Eloise’s cold voice interrupts them.

Daniel, who has started crying, runs to her side. “She… she said we were going to leave! And that I couldn’t come back!”

Eloise stares at her son in confusion, then she looks at Charlotte. Finally, she says,“Daniel, I need to talk to this woman. Don’t worry, she won’t fill your head with anything else silly. You run along now, and be good.”

With one last look at Charlotte, Daniel disappears into the underbrush.

Eloise glares at Charlotte. “I don’t know what you think —“

Charlotte slaps her. “Daniel told me all about you,” she says ferociously. “How after you left this place, you grew cold towards him. How you told him he had a destiny and pushed him into a life of science, even when he had other plans for his life. Your son told me everything.”

“You’re not the only one who lost something today,” Eloise replies coldly.

“I don’t give a damn about what you think you’ve lost,” Charlotte spits back. “What I’m telling you is that your son was good. He was kind, and compassionate, and he loved so very fiercely, and I know he didn’t get that from your tender care! He never needed to prove himself, he was always good enough, and you denied him the love he deserved and sent him here to die!”

Eloise doesn’t have anything to say to that.

Charlotte glares at her. “We’re going to fix this. I’m going to get him back. And you… well, I don’t give a damn what happens to you after that.”

With that, she turns and heads back to the camp.

* * *

All the bomb does is send them to 2007 and take Juliet's life.

Charlotte screams and cries and tries to hit Jack; Miles gets between them and pulls her off to the side.

“I had to save him!” Charlotte screams, trying to break free of Miles’s grasp. “They said this would work, they said this would save him!”

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Miles says, uncharacteristically gentle. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!” Charlotte struggles more. “Because he’s gone, and I’ll never get to see him again!”

That breaks the dam and she slumps against Miles, sobbing loudly. “I told him… I told him never to come back, this is all my fault.”

She can tell Miles doesn’t understand, but he comforts her anyway.

Three weeks later, when they’re back on the mainland with new identities bought by Miles discovering diamonds worth eight million dollars, Miles awkwardly asks her where she’ll go.

Charlotte stares out at the ocean. “I had this dream,” she says, “of Dan and I moving back to England someday. We’d get a cottage on the beach somewhere, have a few kids, and just live quietly. I think we’d both had enough adventures.”

Miles nods. “Sounds nice. I think he’d have liked that.”

Charlotte nods. “I think he would’ve too.”

“Well…” Miles looks around, before giving her an awkward hug. “I’ll be seeing you.”

Charlotte watches him walk away before turning and facing the rest of her life.

* * *

_She was wrong. She did get to see Dan again._

Charlotte is tired of everyone’s nonsense, including this strange man who’s passed out backstage, when she runs into him. “Are you with the band?”

The man she’s talking to stares at her like she’s something out of a dream. He’s handsome in a strange way, with dark hair and honest eyes. She can’t quite take her eyes off him. “I’m sorry?”

“I think he’s in the band,” Charlotte says, gesturing towards the other man in the room. 

“Oh, yes, yes, of course,” he says. “He’s the bass player from Drive Shaft. They're accompanying me tonight. I play piano. I'm Daniel. Daniel Widmore.”

He holds out his hand.

“I’m Charlotte,” Charlotte says, and takes his hand.

The memories start coming after that. Flashes really, of moments they’d spent together, but that spark more and more until she’s overwhelmed, still gripping his hand as she remembers exactly who she’s loved and lost.

She remembers this man - Daniel - now. 

He died in her arms.

And she grew old without him.

Daniel is staring at her with wide eyes. “Charlotte?” He says her name with such reverence, as if it’s a holy thing. 

“Dan,” she breathes in response.

The other man in the room - Charlie? - is watching them. “You two okay over there?”

Charlotte lets out a shaking gasp. “You… oh God, Dan, I’m so sorry, I tried so hard to save you…”

Dan shakes his head, eyes bright with tears. “It’s okay, it’s okay, we’re together now, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”

They move in sync as Dan wraps his arms around her. Charlotte knocks off his hat as she clings to him, shaking in his arms. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she whispers into his neck.

Dan breaks their hug just enough so he can rest his forehead against Charlotte’s. Charlotte reaches up to cup his face, allowing herself to simply breathe for the first time in years. “I love you,” she says softly. “I loved you so much.”

“Oi!” Charlie is growing insistent. “Don’t we have a bloody show to do?”

“Sorry, you’re gonna have to go on without me,” Dan says with a smile. He takes Charlotte’s hand and kisses it. “Where should we go?”

“I have an idea,” Charlotte says, smiling too.

As they slip out the side, Charlotte catches sight of a woman who could only be Eloise in the crowd. She’s watching them as they make a run for it. Charlotte fixes her eyes on her and shakes her head, watching as Eloise’s face crumples ever so slightly.

Then they’re gone, heading for Charlotte’s car. 

* * *

There is a cottage on the beach, somewhere beyond what we know.

They had the choice to leave, they both know it. They could move on to whatever is waiting next. But there were only three years before, and Charlotte doesn’t want to lose any more time.

They go for walks on the beach in the mornings, right after breakfast. In the evenings, there is music, or card games, or even just the simple pleasure of reading in the same room. They have nowhere to go. Nowhere to be.

Charlotte tells Dan stories about what happened after him. How she did buy a small cottage in England, but a year later sold it and got back to work. She traveled the globe, exploring, meeting new people and seeing the way they lived. She and Miles met up eery couple of months, for drinks. He eventually settled down, with Richard Alpert of all people; when Charlotte tells Dan this, Dan nearly spits out his tea.

Charlotte spins stories about her life and Dan listens eagerly, a smile on his face. 

“I thought you’d be jealous,” Charlotte admits one night. "Of all the time I got, when you got so little."

Dan shakes his head. “I’m just glad you were happy. That’s all I ever wanted.”

They don’t know how much time passes before they’re ready, but finally Charlotte feels the itch of another adventure calling her.

They curl up together in their bed, and Dan strokes her hair.

“What do you think happens next?” Charlotte murmurs.

“I don’t know,” Dan admits. “But we’ll be together. I promise. No matter what.”

“You said that before,” Charlotte replies, suddenly worried. “But what -“

Dan kisses her. “I promise this time, I won’t go anywhere.” 

They take each other’s hands. A warm glow starts to fill the room.

Charlotte keeps her eyes on Dan’s face until the light blinds her. She feels so very loved. She feels all of Dan’s love for her, and knows he can feel all of the love she has for him.

And that is how their story ends.

**Author's Note:**

> Charlotte's cottage with lots of babies is a direct reference to an interview Rebecca Mader gave about what she thought happened to Charlotte and Dan after the finale. 
> 
> Find me at @milesdanielcharlotte on tumblr


End file.
